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Zagori - Motori: A short autumn trip

  • Writer: Vlado Bogdanov
    Vlado Bogdanov
  • Jan 24
  • 4 min read

Updated: Jan 27

It's quite hard to photograph emotions, just ask a poor soul who went to art school that it's near impossible even with all the knowledge and skill.

I am however completely unburdened by skill nor knowledge and least of all - knowing my strong suits and sticking to them. Therefore I shall try to convey some of the emotion behind going on a bike trip. Raw facts are 1600 kms in 4 days, 12 mountain passes, 10 river valleys, bla bla, a sea and and excessive amount of food.


A few amateur comments under some stunningly amateurish photos I took. You can't tell but this really is my maximum effort :


First of all it's the mood before you set off. Everybody is so hyped, there's none of those anger outbursts that put you in a homicidal state of mind as is usually the case of people going on a long car trip. Look at them, they are all so happy running around turning the whole petrol station into an unbearably chaotic place for the poor people who just came in to gas up, take their coffee and get to work so they can poop on company time. Well, you'd be able to see how happy all these bikers are when I learn to take better pictures. Any day now...
First of all it's the mood before you set off. Everybody is so hyped, there's none of those anger outbursts that put you in a homicidal state of mind as is usually the case of people going on a long car trip. Look at them, they are all so happy running around turning the whole petrol station into an unbearably chaotic place for the poor people who just came in to gas up, take their coffee and get to work so they can poop on company time. Well, you'd be able to see how happy all these bikers are when I learn to take better pictures. Any day now...

First stop is Pozar. This entire river is thermal, running at 37 Celsius all year round. It's weird really, when you dip your hand in it, your brain goes "something's wrong here, check it again, it can't be". I saw pretty much everyone who came near the water do that double dip. If you come this way, don't be stingy, spend 3 euro and 3 hours in a thermal river.
First stop is Pozar. This entire river is thermal, running at 37 Celsius all year round. It's weird really, when you dip your hand in it, your brain goes "something's wrong here, check it again, it can't be". I saw pretty much everyone who came near the water do that double dip. If you come this way, don't be stingy, spend 3 euro and 3 hours in a thermal river.

Kaymakcalan is quite close by, especially if you could do vertical lift-offs. But hey, bikes can do the next best thing - fly up from 400m to 2100m of elevation in an a dizzyingly twisty 15-minute dash up a road on the side of the mountain. And you feel all of it - the temperature dropped like 14 degrees, it was a different season altogether up there. You'd never know it in a car, the aircon and the pangs of nausea would just drown it out for you. The air changed its taste, became... less chewy somehow. Unfortunately the roaming also changed to North Macedonian so what looks like a relaxed photo actually was him getting ready to get screwed by a phone company.
Kaymakcalan is quite close by, especially if you could do vertical lift-offs. But hey, bikes can do the next best thing - fly up from 400m to 2100m of elevation in an a dizzyingly twisty 15-minute dash up a road on the side of the mountain. And you feel all of it - the temperature dropped like 14 degrees, it was a different season altogether up there. You'd never know it in a car, the aircon and the pangs of nausea would just drown it out for you. The air changed its taste, became... less chewy somehow. Unfortunately the roaming also changed to North Macedonian so what looks like a relaxed photo actually was him getting ready to get screwed by a phone company.

Kastoria is more of a winter spot but it is wonderfully charming, especially at night, being at the foot of a mountain and on the shore of a lake and all.
Kastoria is more of a winter spot but it is wonderfully charming, especially at night, being at the foot of a mountain and on the shore of a lake and all.

No less charming was the pizza place which was the only open dinner spot in the whole town we realized (after walking around for an hour). Apparently we coincided with a chef's festival somewhere in the mountain. Thank Krishna for that, otherwise we'd have missed this place and gone to something more touristy
No less charming was the pizza place which was the only open dinner spot in the whole town we realized (after walking around for an hour). Apparently we coincided with a chef's festival somewhere in the mountain. Thank Krishna for that, otherwise we'd have missed this place and gone to something more touristy

This giant ancient roman bridge was built a full millennia after the Roman Empire collapsed. It is quite pretty
This giant ancient roman bridge was built a full millennia after the Roman Empire collapsed. It is quite pretty

Vikos is a river canyon only a few meters short of a kilometer deep. You really can't see it on a picture it is stunning and imposing and has caused this little fella to vacuum suction attach himself to the cliff just in case
Vikos is a river canyon only a few meters short of a kilometer deep. You really can't see it on a picture it is stunning and imposing and has caused this little fella to vacuum suction attach himself to the cliff just in case

Always interesting to get to Meteora by sunset. Tiny people flock to the cliff to miss the sunset by trying to photograph it for Instagram. Or maybe they aren't that tiny, come to think of it, they were quite far away. They may have been regular sized Instagram people.
Always interesting to get to Meteora by sunset. Tiny people flock to the cliff to miss the sunset by trying to photograph it for Instagram. Or maybe they aren't that tiny, come to think of it, they were quite far away. They may have been regular sized Instagram people.

He may look tired but he's only actually a bit confused. You see, it's his first time coming to Meteora without crashing his bike into a cow on the way. He doesn't know what he's supposed to do, so he just had a small lie down.
He may look tired but he's only actually a bit confused. You see, it's his first time coming to Meteora without crashing his bike into a cow on the way. He doesn't know what he's supposed to do, so he just had a small lie down.

Sitting on this bench looking down on teeny tiny Meteora was psychotherapeutic. Totally worth all of the 40 first-gear, hairpin bends it took to get up there. And we had it all to ourselves, not a soul to be found. It's a shame really, that something farted (it wasn't us, surely) and ruined what was otherwise a Zen experience.
Sitting on this bench looking down on teeny tiny Meteora was psychotherapeutic. Totally worth all of the 40 first-gear, hairpin bends it took to get up there. And we had it all to ourselves, not a soul to be found. It's a shame really, that something farted (it wasn't us, surely) and ruined what was otherwise a Zen experience.

He, apparently knew a shortcut. As with all motorcycle off-roading, it took twice the time, three times the energy and it involved getting very wet in a river over which thoughtful folks had built many bridges
He, apparently knew a shortcut. As with all motorcycle off-roading, it took twice the time, three times the energy and it involved getting very wet in a river over which thoughtful folks had built many bridges

Don't bikes make any parking lot just look better...
Don't bikes make any parking lot just look better...

... no matter which part of nature you decide to call a "parking lot"
... no matter which part of nature you decide to call a "parking lot"

This tank, very kindly and eloquently asked to take a picture with us. We obliged.
This tank, very kindly and eloquently asked to take a picture with us. We obliged.

If you were to drive a car up this, it would be a symphony of dizziness and vomit. But not to worry because you wouldn't drive a car up this road as it doesn't really go anywhere, and people rarely drive cars to nowhere. Oh, almost forgot: Click here to see it from a penis riding an R1250GS's perspective
If you were to drive a car up this, it would be a symphony of dizziness and vomit. But not to worry because you wouldn't drive a car up this road as it doesn't really go anywhere, and people rarely drive cars to nowhere. Oh, almost forgot: Click here to see it from a penis riding an R1250GS's perspective

The sad truth about this photo is that my editing skills are just lacking and I was unable to cut the bikes out and write "Girl's night out wo-hoo" in bold an squiggly letters. Anybody know how to do that?
The sad truth about this photo is that my editing skills are just lacking and I was unable to cut the bikes out and write "Girl's night out wo-hoo" in bold an squiggly letters. Anybody know how to do that?

Thus concludes what was a short recap of a short but fun-filled trip with us. If we aroused a desire in you to join us on one of our next adventures, you can look through what we've planned by clicking "Adventures" above. If we aroused you, just go with your normal routine in such situations - cold shower, shame, aggressively repeating "I like women, not slightly out of shape dudes", you know the drill.


Respect and petrol, Vlado MotoBalkanski

 
 
 

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